The present invention relates to semiconductor apparatus and more particularly to a semiconductor apparatus that includes a package on which are mounted a plurality of pairs of a coil and a capacitor, each pair composing a smoothing circuit of a switching regulator.
Recently, semiconductor devices are miniaturized, and thus, the semiconductor integrated circuits tend to be highly integrated and operate at increasing speeds. This miniaturization lowers electrical strength of the devices and hence decreases the power supply voltages. This suppresses an increase in the power consumption to some extent while causing a large increase in the power supply current. The transistors whose operating voltages are lowered have a reduced operating margin for the power supply voltage. When the power supply voltage is lowered compared to a desired value, there is a possibility that the operating speeds of the semiconductor device will be greatly reduced. Thus, the power supply circuit that supplies the power supply voltage to the semiconductor integrated circuit is required to supply a large current with high voltage accuracy.
To this end, a POL (Point Of Load) system is proposed in which the power supply circuit is disposed in the vicinity of the semiconductor integrated circuit that consumes power and in its final form the semiconductor integrated circuit should include the power supply circuit built therein.
Conventional techniques for building power supply circuits in the semiconductor integrated circuit are disclosed in the following publications.
i) US2002/0042902 A1
ii) US2001/0054760 A1